In the first days after the 2016 presidential election, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project administered an online survey to K–12 educators from across the country. Over 10,000 teachers, counselors, administrators and others who work in schools have responded. The survey data indicate that the results of the election are having a profoundly negative impact on schools and students. Ninety percent of educators report that school climate has been negatively affected, and most of them believe it will have a long-lasting impact. A full 80 percent describe heightened anxiety and concern on the part of students worried about...

'Hate Cannot Be the New Normal': Teachers, Working People in Unions, Faith and Civil Rights Leaders Urge President-Elect Trump to Condemn Hate Speech As the number of hate-related incidents has been escalating in the recent days following the 2016 election campaign marked by the extreme and hateful rhetoric of Donald Trump, working people in unions are calling on the president-elect to take a stand. During his acceptance speech, Trump said he would work to unite all working people.Working people are demanding that Trump commit to representing all of America’s people by "loudly, forcefully, unequivocally and consistently denouncing these acts and the...

NEA launches national campaign urging the public to “Speak Up” for students WASHINGTON - November 18, 2016 - The National Education Association today joined civil rights, faith leaders, and other advocates to ask President-Elect Donald Trump to leverage his position to call for an end to the recent wave of racist, bigoted, and violent incidents and rhetoric that have taken place since his election.NEA and more than 100 groups signed a letter urging Mr. Trump to call for an end to the acts of harassment, vandalism, property destruction, and in some cases, assault, that have intensified over the past several...

The 2015 American Federation of Teachers annual report shows a left-wing political machine humming on all cylinders — with teachers buying the gas. For the fiscal year ending June 30, the union reported $37.6 million in political activity and lobbying expenditures, a $12.7 million increase from the previous year. Even more political spending was tucked away elsewhere in AFT’s annual U.S. Department of Labor filing, reported as “Contributions, Gifts and Grants,” “General Overhead” or “Representational Activities.” AFT paid union president Randi Weingarten, one of the nation’s most prominent “progressive” activists, a total of $497,118. The union reported only 2 percent...

Federal authorities indicted the former president of a Florida teachers’ union on fraud charges on Thursday, even as he faces additional charges in his home state over allegedly illegal campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton. The Justice Department charged former Broward Teachers Union (BTU) president Patrick Santeramo with two counts of mail fraud for his alleged role in embezzling more than $35,000 in payments from a local school district. “It is alleged that after the BTU received the $80,000 payment from the School Board of Broward County, Santeramo authorized payments from the [union’s] Accountability Program account for himself and at least...

Hillary Clinton scored a major union endorsement on Saturday when the American Federation of Teachers announced its support for the Democratic frontrunner. The endorsement is not a surprise, as the AFT also backed Clinton in 2007 in her primary battle against then-Sen. Barack Obama, but it is the first national union to endorse a candidate in the 2016 Democratic primary

Wisconsin unions Monday are once again attacking Republican Gov. Scott Walker, this time over a proposed budget that may result in cuts to tenure for state college professors. With the upcoming budget session, the Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee is expected to propose a plan to reform the University of Wisconsin System. While it is not yet finalized, unions warn the plan will cut $250 million in funding and will remove academic protections for professors such as teacher tenure. This latest union battles comes at the heels of a likely announcement Walker will run for president. With his previous labor reforms,...

After wasting millions of dollars on losing Democratic candidates in this month’s midterm elections, the American Federation of Teachers has completely gone off the deep end and banned Coca-Cola and Coke products from its events and facilities. The teachers union — America’s second largest — based its prohibition on America’s best product and, certainly, its best export, on allegations of human rights violations that were described in a trio of books published several years ago... Larry Sand, president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, a group that frequently stands athwart teachers unions, spells out the motivation more clearly: ”Obviously, they...

The president of the nation’s second-largest teachers union said Friday that President Barack Obama’s education chief has turned his back on the concerns of educators and parents, but she stopped short of calling for his ouster. Teachers unions have been clashing with the Obama administration over its support for charter schools and its push to use student test scores as part of teacher evaluations, a relationship that further frayed after Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke in support of a California judge’s ruling last month that struck down tenure and other job protections for the state’s public school teachers. …

The Democracy Alliance, a top-secret collective of ultra-rich left-wing political donors, has a new member — Randi Weingarten, who heads the labor union that represented Douglas County teachers until two years ago when the district went union-free. ... Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), an arm of the AFL-CIO whose affiliates include the Douglas County Federation. ... Ben DeGrow, Independence Institute senior education policy analyst, said Weingarten’s joining the Democracy Alliance shows that the union is using dues collected from teachers to pursue an extreme political agenda. ... Unlike other school districts, Douglas County no longer...

...The National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), among other organizations were instrumental in bringing together teachers to provide specific, constructive feedback on the standards.

Democrats and many in the media routinely complain about money spent in politics, and they regularly lash out at conservatives and big business. Turns out, unions are the top spenders in politics. Twelve of the top 20 political donors from 1989 to 2014 have been unions, which overwhelmingly support Democratic causes, according to an analysis done by OpenSecrets.org's Center for Responsive Politics. Seven of the top 10 donors overall give almost exclusively to politicians or groups on the left. ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for Democrats and progressive causes and features Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer...

The boss of the American Federation of Teachers is on a field trip — all the way to the Ukraine — on a visit paid in part by dues-paying rank and file members of her union. Randi Weingarten told FoxNews.com she arrived in Kiev on Thursday as part of a delegation of teacher union leaders from five nations, including the United Kingdom, Poland, Denmark and Bulgaria, as an act of solidarity and to “promote democratic values.” The tab for the trip was split by AFT’s 1.5 million members and the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of Ukraine (STESU),...

On December 4, 2013 Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million member American Federation of Teachers(AFT), spoke on C-Span about bullying, particularly of gay students. Ms. Weingarten said, with surprise in her voice, that she doesn't understand why gay students are still bullied in public schools, because in 2013, "It's cool to be gay." She also said she is gay, and now speaks about it openly.As a psychotherapist, I tell clients that being surprised by another person's behavior often results from erroneous assumptions about the person, usually because you see them as you want them to be rather than as they...

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute sponsored a recent panel discussion titled, “Traversing the Teacher-Evaluation Terrain.” Inevitably, the discussion veered from teacher-evaluation criteria at the federal and state levels to upcoming requirements of Common Core. One of the panelists, Rob Weil, represented the American Federation of Teachers as their Deputy Director of Education Issues Department. He voiced his opposition and disapproval of the top-down, federal government approach of Common Core throughout the discussion. Weil argued that the legislators and bureaucrats “like putting numbers down in legislation because it makes them feel good.” He said that teachers “were hoping that the effort...

School’s out for summer, which leaves ample time during the day for students to relax—and for their teachers to recharge and reflect. It’s also an ideal time for them to decide whether union membership is right for them. Unfortunately, it’s also the only time for many of them to decide—the nation’s teachers’ unions, as well as many unions generally, have done a remarkable job of restricting their members’ knowledge of and ability to exercise their rights regarding union membership. For years, educators have joined teachers’ unions with the assumption that their money advances their profession. Unfortunately, the National Education Association...

WACO, Texas (AP) -- Some who survived the fiery end to the 51-day standoff at the Branch Davidians' Central Texas compound are to gather for a memorial service on the 20th anniversary of the fire. Survivors and others who see the events as an unwarranted government intrusion into personal and religious freedoms are to attend the service Friday at a Waco museum. Federal agents raided the compound Feb. 28, 1993, trying to arrest sect leader David Koresh for stockpiling illegal weapons. But the group had been tipped off about the raid and a shootout ensued. Four agents and six Davidians...

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement in reaction to National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s press conference today: After remaining silent for an entire week following the Newtown massacre, the NRA’s first comments were to call for more guns in our schools and our society. This is both irresponsible and dangerous. No matter how much money the NRA spends or propaganda it tries to spread, one thing is clear—the NRA is not serious about confronting the epidemic of gun violence in our nation. Schools must be safe sanctuaries, not armed fortresses. Anyone who...

"The unbridled growth of crony unionism and government corruption will destroy the United States as we know it." This statement may strike many as sheer hyperbole. But its author, Mallory Factor, a political scientist at The Citadel, knows whereof he writes. His new book, "Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind" (New York: Center Street), makes a credible case, and a well-sourced one, that our country may be in the early stages of a ruinous dystopia, courtesy of public-sector unions. In pursuing their interests, argues the author, these labor organizations hold taxpaying citizens hostage to unsustainable wage/salary, pension,...

For more than half a century, in Hollywood message movies from “The Blackboard Jungle” to “Lean on Me,” Stand and Deliver” and “Dangerous Minds,” academic failure and juvenile crime have haunted the corridors of failing inner-city schools that were little better than war zones. Docilely reflecting liberal conventional wisdom, such Hollywood films typically let the public school system itself off easy, instead tracing the “root causes” of inner-city school failure to American social injustice — poverty, inequality and underfunded schools. But times have changed: The faceless bureaucrat and parochial union executive have replaced social injustice and neglect as the enemies...

What does it take to make our nation's "teachers," 'supposedly' some of the most intelligent among us - those entrusted with the minds of our children - to face-down the Unions that are bankrupting our country financially and morally? The leaders of two of the largest Unions, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the National Education Association (NEA) are paid about $500,000 annually, each, while the average teacher's salary is $44,000. It's about Liberalism, Progressivism, Socialism, Buying Votes. That's the bottom line and it is ruining the American dream for our kids. Teachers, have you considered the Association of American...

OpEd Contributor The Washington Examiner Popular in Opinion Examiner Local Editorial: Overtaxed Marylanders head for the exits UPDATED II: Memo to Holder - Congress is the first branch Where is the outrage? It ain't easy being liberal in 2012 Examiner Editorial: To shield Holder, Obama puts secrecy before transparency Late last month, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney delivered an education speech in which he lambasted the policy agenda of teachers union officials. To help make his point, Romney cited a famous remark attributed to the late Al Shanker, former longtime president of the American Federation of Teachers. In 1985,...

Earlier this month, the presidents of America's two largest teachers unions co-hosted a screening of the new documentary "Bully." The movie, of course, aims to combat bullying of schoolchildren. But even as they publicly eschew bullying, these unions and their locals across the nation bully teachers and competing organizations to maintain membership and power. I have published a new report on the details of this ugly trend in School Reform News. In February, a Utah teacher named Cole Kelly testified in favor of a bill that would penalize school districts for not granting all teacher organizations -- not just unions,...

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the AFL-CIO's educational (strong) arm, announced the group's endorsement of the Obama-Biden ticket in 2012. In case it matters to you, she makes $350,000 per year as a union boss. [quote] Declaring that President Obama is the only candidate who will fight to preserve and expand the middle class, close the inequality gap and ensure everyone has a "fair shot" at success, the AFT announced its endorsement of President Obama and Vice President Biden for re-election on Feb. 7. [end quote] This selfless administrator's devotion to the middle class, earnings...

Rep. Darrell Issa, who has been investigating the Fast and Furious operation for nearly a year, declined on Friday to call for Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to resign over the botched undercover probe that led to hundreds of weapons being “walked” to gun smugglers in Mexico. Mr. Issa, California Republican, said the operation is not about Mr. Holder or Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, both of whom he has criticized strongly over their handling of the failed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive’s (ATF) investigation. “It is not about...

Ten months of congressional investigation, document dumps and following leads provided by ATF whistle blowers have led many to conclude that the real villains of Operation Fast and Furious were the Department of Justice led agents of Director Robert Mueller’s FBI. Since whistle blowing Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent John Dodson first brought the Fast and Furious scandal to the attention of Senator Charles Grassley, blame for the gun trafficking scheme has been directed at the ATF from operatives throughout the Obama Administration. But during the criminal doings of Fast and Furious, the ATF was often played for a stooge...

.....But it's not just the celebrities who are joining in on the fun. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers have spent the past month ginning up their own public relations machines so they can declare their solidarity for the Occupy Wall Street protesters and for all which they stand. Earlier this month, AFT President RandiWeingarten (who took a few steps out of the union's plush offices on Broadway to join the protests) proclaimed that "we need to get serious as a nation about working together to create economic opportunities for all Americans." Twenty-four of the union's...

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Occupy LA movement grew by the thousands Wednesday as unionized workers, caregivers and their patients joined the call for an end to corporate greed and Congress to put Americans back to work. The demonstrators held large signs, chanted loudly and blew whistles as they marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles to the steps of City Hall. Organized by the Service Employees International Union, the demonstration was in support of President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act....

The government-sanctioned gunrunning operation Fast and Furious was a plot to undermine Second Amendment rights in the United States, National Rifle Association officer Wayne LaPierre charged on Friday in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV. “It’s the only thing that makes any sense,” LaPierre said. “Over a period of two or three years they were running thousands and thousands of guns to the most evil people on earth. At the same time they were yelling ’90 per cent… of the guns the Mexican drug cartels are using come from the United States.’ “That was a phony figure from the very start....

Sharyl Attkisson, the same CBS reporter who was screamed at by the White House to stop reporting on the Fast and Furious gun scandal, is reporting today that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) will be issuing a subpoena to DOJ head Eric Holder: CBS News has learned a congressional subpoena directed to Attorney General Eric Holder could go out as early as Tuesday, ordering him to turn over documents to lawmakers about when he was aware of a controversial gun smuggling operation known as Fast and Furious. CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports the the subpoena will come from...

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) –Mexico’s attorney general is demanding an explanation from the United States as evidence grows the Obama administration was more deeply involved in Operation Fast and Furious than top officials admitted in previous statements. Operation Fast and Furious was a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives effort to track more than 2,000 smuggled guns to Mexican drug cartels by allowing gang members to purchase them illegally from U.S. gun stores then take them back to their leaders. However, the federal agency lost track of many of the guns. Some later were traced to murders...

he AFL-CIO announced it has invested more than $150 million in job-creating infrastructure projects and registered 8,000 more apprenticeships in clean energy training. During the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting in Chicago last June, the AFL-CIO outlined plans to work with member unions, pension funds, investment professionals and the government to invest at least $10 billion in job-creating infrastructure projects. The federation also committed to invest at least $20 million in specific energy retrofits over the next year, to retrofit our headquarters building, and to train tens of thousands of workers in the skills necessary to work on 21st century infrastructure.Here’s what has been...

Ridiculously false choices and rhetoric ruled the evening when the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers hosted a closed-media conference call with Vice President Joe Biden to inform their members about the latest government school and teachersâ€™ union bailout. In a recording obtained exclusively by PublicSchoolSpending.com, Biden explained the administration is seeking to spend $30 billion to create a â€śTeacher Layoff Prevention Fund.â€ťÂ He also said that many schools today are â€śdeciding whether or not to heat the school or keep a teacher.â€ť Like school stimuli-past, Biden said schools would not be able to bank the money,...

President Obama is changing his rhetoric in trying to get Congress to approve $50 billion in new spending on roads, bridges and railways. Out are the words “stimulus” and even “infrastructure,” a term seemingly tied to the $787 billion economic stimulus package approved in 2009. In is the word “jobs,” which is what the president says will be created if Congress approves his $447 billion package. That Obama would ditch the word “stimulus” is hardly a surprise considering the political bruises he’s taken from Republicans, who say the stimulus failed to create the millions of jobs promised by the administration....

If the reassignment of ATF officials in recent weeks and the abrupt resignation of U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke were attempts by the Department of Justice and the Obama administration to cover up the Gunwalker scandal, they have failed, miserably. Now they are saddled by yet another claim of retaliation against a whistleblower and new revelations that gunwalking was far more lethal and widespread that originally thought. David Codrea of the Examiner has been at the forefront of the investigation, and reveals that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and FBI â€” two of the agencies that played...

Newly obtained emails show that the White House was better informed about a failed gun-tracking operation on the border with Mexico than was previously known. Three White House national security officials were given some details about the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious. The operation allowed firearms to be illegally purchased, with the goal of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels. But the effort went out of control after agents lost track of many of the weapons. The supervisor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation in Phoenix specifically mentioned Fast and Furious in at least one email...

***VIDEO AT LINK*** Dr. Moe: “If you stand up for kids, you have to oppose this [collective bargaining] Schools get organized by the adults on the basis of interests and concerns that have nothing to do with kids. So, why would you expect that system to work?” As students head back to school, it is a good time to reflect on why education is failing and continues to fail. Terry Moe, Chairman of the Political Science Department at Stanford, provides a dispassionate and extensively researched book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America’s Public Schools, which should become a useful and...

Detective Gregory of the Devonshire Constabulary: "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" Sherlock Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time." Holmes: "That was the curious incident." -- "Silver Blaze," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The energetic Richard Serrano of the LA Times, who is rapidly making his name as the premier print reporter of the Gunwalker Scandal, writes "Family of U.S. agent slain in Mexico demands to know gun source." Yes, as should we all. Five months after U.S. immigration agent...

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten recently led a delegation of union representatives to Cairo, Egypt to meet with “leaders of Egyptian unions that were instrumental in the recent political and governmental changes there,” according to a news release issued by the union. Whoa. Are public sector unions planning a similar “regime change” here in America?If not, why would Weingarten be cavorting in the Middle East at a time when American public schools are seeing massive dropout rates, budget reductions and reforms that strike at the base of union power?Details are scant regarding Weingarten’s trip or agenda. The union...

A review of Special Interest: Teachers Unions and American Public Schools, by Terry M. Moe (Brookings Institution Press, 2011), 513 pp., $34.95 Seldom has the raw power and unbridled selfishness of teacher unions been more on display than it is today in state capitols around the country. Teachers led the union riot that shut down Wisconsin's state government for more than two weeks, making legislators afraid to enter government buildings while angry mobs defaced public property and shouted threats against elected officials. Terry Moe, a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution and author of numerous books and studies on education...

Madison - One day after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered the reinstatement of collective-bargaining legislation that potentially affects thousands of public-sector employees, a coalition of unions filed suit in federal court seeking to block it.The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO on Wednesday joined a number of other unions seeking to halt Gov. Scott Walker's controversial collective bargaining legislation.The groups include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 24, AFSCME Council 40, AFSCME Council 48, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), the Wisconsin State Employees Union, The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO and the Service...

I know you are probably sick of me harping on government schools and teachers unions. Well then, I guess is sucks to be you. As long as I’m on the air I’ll keep preaching against government education; and especially against teacher’s unions. I’ve said and I will repeat that there is no other entity in this country – or anywhere in the world, for that matter – that has done more damage to the fabric of America than teacher’s unions. The problems we face in this country would be greatly reduced if the people were just informed enough and bright...

The good old American inclination to wave a magic wand and say to an urgent problem, "Begone!" is on display in the fast-emerging movement for a national K-12 curriculum.Ah, you didn't know there was such a movement, far less that it was emerging. Here's the lowdown. Various analysts representing mostly the education establishment are pressing for a so-called "common curriculum" -- one that would supposedly engage the minds of all American students, aligning their performance with the latest thinking as to what's needed.All but six states (including Texas) have fallen into bed with an effort -- supported by the U.S....

These are tough times for Minnesota schools. In Lakeville, for example, the school board recently announced wrenching cuts of almost $7 million. Ninety-four teachers will lose their jobs, arts programs will suffer and a school will be closed. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth, but the board set its jaw: There's not a dime for anything extra. Unless you've got an ax to grind with white folks. Then the money spigots open. The Lakeville schools are sending a delegation of teachers to the 12th annual "White Privilege Conference" at the Bloomington Sheraton from Aug. 13-16. The district is shelling...

I believe there is a difference between rank-and-file teachers and the leadership of radical teachersâ€™ unions. The trouble is, the rank-and-file sits idly by as the radicals embarrass them, time and time again. Perhaps weâ€™ve reached the point where the rank-and-file can rightfully be accused of being complicit of such behavior. Why arenâ€™t teachers angrily denouncing a recent resolution passed by the California Federation of Teachers in which the union "reaffirms support for death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal"? The American Federation of Teachers, led by Randi Weingarten, has to date issued no statement in opposition to this offensive resolution....

Why can't teachers who have been chronically absent from work be the first to go? Or the ones who have been convicted of crimes? Or the ones who are languishing—with full pay and benefits—in some "reserve pool" because no school will hire them? Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently said that "last in, first out" policies hit low-income kids hardest because the poor are more likely to attend schools where teachers have less seniority.

In December of 2009, Russell Vanderwerf, Director of Industry Operations for the Houston office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was arrested in New Orleans after staffers at the Residence Inn .. he was staying were sent to investigate a malfunctioning hotel fire alarm. It seems Mr. Vanderwerf had disconnected the smoke detectors in his suite and removed the alarm horn, leaving it hanging out of the wall. But far more interesting to hotel employees, Vanderwerf had also removed the door between his bedroom and the outer suite and replaced it with a four by five foot piece...

As predicted in Revolt! (Dick’s and Eileen’s new book) – States Lead the Way Toward Reform It is not only the Arab world that is in turmoil! Reform Governors like Scott Walker (Wisconsin), John Kasich (Ohio), Mitch Daniels (Indiana), Tom Corbett (Pennsylvania), Butch Otter (Idaho), and Rick Scott (Florida) are leading a movement for fundamental change in America. In Revolt!, Morris and McGann’s new book, they describe how newly elected Republican Governors – impelled by their budget crises and empowered with GOP Legislatures – will accomplish sweeping changes in our politics. Read how: * Republican Governors will destroy the political...